He had been arrested for disturbing the peace in North Miami Beach while high on drugs and put in a police cruiser when he slammed his head against the plexiglass divider and shouted: “I’m going to eat you” to officers before growling and baring his teeth.

Miami police said they believe he was on a cocktail of drugs including Cloud Nine.

In another case, Carl Jacquneaux, 43, was accused of attacking Todd Credeur in his front garden in Scott, Louisiana, over the weekend after being upset over a domestic issue while under the influence of what is said to be bath salts.

Jacquneaux bit Mr Credeur before being sprayed in the face with wasp spray.

Jacquneaux was then said to have left the property and gone to another man’s home where he held him at knife-point and stole a handgun before being apprehended by police.

The drug, which is also known as Ivory Wave, was blamed for several deaths in Britain during 2010 before being banned. It is also illegal in Australia.

The potentially addictive drug stimulates the central nervous system and symptoms include heart palpitations, nausea, hallucinations, paranoia and erratic behaviour and is often sold in plain packaging with the contents purporting to be harmless.

Ivory Wave packaging: Drug was banned in Britain in 2010

Dr Kate Wilmer, consultant cardiologist at West Cumberland Hospital, described the effects of Ivory Wave in the Daily Mirror in 2010.

She wrote: "What we were seeing was ­effectively an acute paranoid psychosis which was coming on anything from 12 hours to four days after taking Ivory Wave.

"The things that were common with all of them were extreme agitation, both auditory and visual hallucinations and paranoid delusions.

"The patients were extremely scared and that made some of them quite aggressive and difficult for the staff to deal with.

"If we tried to give them anything to help them, they were convinced we were trying to harm them, so we have had to heavily sedate two or three of them in order to treat them ­properly.

"Some of them had a very fast heart rate when they came in and one of them experienced chest pain when he came in.

"Other problems include high blood pressure, high temperature and possible cardiac problems.